As the season winds down I have started to think about next year and my long term Triathlon goals.
I really need to start training hard now if I want to make Kona (either qualify or lottery) by 2010 when the race will be on my birthday.
I was wondering if there is a comprehensive list of all the Ironman events, so i can think about training for one. I have the March 05 Triathlete that lists 300+ events, but was wondering if the '06 - '07 calanders were out.
Also any suggestions on which events are great and which I should pass on would be great.
Actually, Ironmanlive only lists official “Mdot” races, which represent only a small fraction of ironman distance events. Here is a site that lists both Mdot races and non-Mdot races: http://www.trifind.com/iron.html
Just based upon recollection: Ralphs, Gulf Coast, Buffalo Springs, St. Croix, Florida Half, Eagleman, Keauhou Kona, Disney, maybe vineman half(?). I know that they’ve been cutting back on this alot, but I think there are still some halfs with Kona slots.
No. In fact, he doesn’t even have to do a full iron man. There are a number of non M-dot races (IM and HIM) that offer slots.
No non-M-dot IM has Kona slots (although at least one (Vineman Full) used to-- I don’t remember others). And until recently, there was really no such thing as “an M-dot Half IM”, although now apparently the handful of halfs that have slots are actively using the M-dot as part of their logos.
However… with WTC going independent from USAT and starting up the new “70.3” series, I suspect that in the very near future there will no longer be opportunities to qualify for Kona at any half-IMs. You will probably have to qualify at a Full IM as soon as 2007.
Don’t know this for a fact, of course, but since all the 70.3 races will be qualifiers for the 70.3 “championship”, I doubt they’ll want to combine 70.3 qualification with Kona qualification.
This is sort of a logical progression, given the enormous expansion in the number of WTC races over the past 3-4 years. However, having said that, I think the WTC had better be careful. There’s been an awful lot of “churn” in the schedule of WTC races in those years— how many have come and gone? A lot of fly-by-night events that happen once or twice and are never heard from again. I think they’d do better to work harder at solidifying the races that they’ve got out there rather than trying to expand the number of them too quickly.
Anyway, just a few thoughts on the topic. Good luck in your IM build-up! Oh, and you might also check www.xtri.com for an excellent long-distance race calendar.
Just based upon recollection: Ralphs, Gulf Coast, Buffalo Springs, St. Croix, Florida Half, Eagleman, Keauhou Kona, Disney, maybe vineman half(?). I know that they’ve been cutting back on this alot, but I think there are still some halfs with Kona slots.
Keauhou doesn’t exist any longer.